|
|
|
|
Industrial package comes to end
CM: No frequent posting of same officers in tribal areas
Budget passed in Assembly
‘State emerging as educational hub
Discussion on Entry tax Bill deferred
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Probe begins into suicide case
Tea industry losing trade, taste
5,000 govt staff trained for census
Zila parishad chief fired at
Vice-chief of Tibetan Youth Cong dismissed
Property worth Rs 30 lakh gutted
Three die in separate incidents
National vision document for sea buckthorn cultivation
No check on sale of sub-standard drugs
|
|
Industrial package comes to end
Shimla, March 31 “I spoke with the Prime Minister on March 29 to seek extension of the package till 2013 as proposed earlier but he said several other states too opposed its further extension,” said Dhumal. He added that the issue was so crucial for the hill state that people might start an agitation against the injustice, a sentiment that he had conveyed to the Prime Minister. “We are still hopeful that the Centre would oblige Himachal and I will be personally meeting the Prime Minister shortly to press our demand,” he said. The chief minister has already hinted that the government would fight the injustice not just politically but
also legally. With Congress leadership too seeking extension of the package it is expected that they too will meet the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister on the issue. Sources said though the Prime Minister was in favour of extension of the industrial package but the finance ministry was opposed to it, keeping in view opposition by some other states, including Punjab and Haryana. The chief minister said he had also held talks with Uttrakhand Chief Minister as they too were seeking extension of the package for their state. “I have already conveyed to the Prime Minister that Himachal was not seeking something new but restoration of the package given earlier to the state till 2013, so other states should not have a problem with that,” he said. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Kaul Singh Thakur today said that he along with other senior members of his party would go to Delhi to press for extension of the industrial package. The Congress has been seeking restoration of the package which was curtailed from 2013 to 2007 but later restored till 2010. The Chief Minister said the opposition by the neighbouring states was completely unjustified as there was not even a single case of an industry shifting base from their states
to Himachal. With the issue of extension of the industrial package being very sensitive, the BJP would get a major issue against the Congress. |
|
CM: No frequent posting of same officers in tribal areas
Shimla, March 31 In reply to a query raised by Ram Lal Markenday of the BJP regarding frequent posting of same officers in the tribal areas during question hour in the Assembly today, Dhumal said officers who were keen to go there with economic considerations in mind would not be allowed to do so. He said it would be ensured that such officers were not given postings in the tribal areas. Markenday said officers, especially from the PWD and IPH Department, were keen to take postings in the tribal areas as they were indulging in corruption. “The ministers’ committee on transfer policy has recommended that every employee must serve at least once in the tribal areas but those keen to serve there with ulterior motives would be disallowed,” he assured. In reply to another question by Kaul Singh, GS Bali, Sukhwinder Sukhu and Gangu Ram Musafir of the Congress, the Chief Minister said there had been a general decline in overall crime in the state. “Not only has the conviction rate gone up to 88 per cent but efforts are on to modernise the force with thrust on computerisation,” he said. Dhumal said the recent murders in hotels were a cause of concern and efforts were on to convince hoteliers to install closed-circuit cameras at the reception so that in case of crime the accused can be traced easily. In reply to a query by Anil Sharma of the Congress about supply of root stock to fruit growers, Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta said private nursery owners had been advised to keep shifting the nurseries so that growers are supplied virus-free plants. “All possible efforts are being made to keep the orchards virus-free so that growers benefit though root stocks,” he said. In reply to another question by Rakesh Verma about problem in Giri water supply scheme, IPH Minister Ravinder Ravi said there was a fault in the design of the scheme but there were certain shortcomings in its implementation. “We are trying our best to plug the leakages so that by 2016 we are able to provide 20 MLD to Shimla,” he said. |
|
Budget passed in Assembly
Shimla, March 31 All cut motions moved by the Opposition were rejected. The House discussed and voted the demands under law and order, education, health and pubic works while the remaining demands were passed without discussion after the Speaker, Tulsi Ram, applied the guillotine today at 3.30 pm. The Budget was presented by Chief Minister PK Dhumal, who also holds the finance portfolio, on March 12 and the general discussion concluded on March 19. The House discussed the demands for three days after it reassembled on March 29 after the recess to enable the House committees to scrutinise the Budget proposals. This was the eighth Budget presented by Dhumal and third consecutive of the government during the present term. One per cent increase in VAT on items in four per cent slab (except foodgrains and oils) has effected in the Budget, which envisages 23 per cent of the deficit to be met through borrowing and expenditure. |
|
‘State emerging as educational hub
Shimla, March 31 Replying to the debate on cut motion pertaining to demands of the Education Department, he said the BJP regime had tried to fill huge vacancies resulting due to failure on part of the Congress regime to recruit teachers and make promotions. He said Himachal had a network of 10,750 primary schools having 4.65 lakh students and 4,384 middle schools with an enrolment of 3.36 lakh. “Our endeavour now is to provide quality education with thrust on infrastructure, computer education and vocational training so that students do not lag behind in any field,” he added. Taking the Congress to task for ignoring merit in recruiting PTA teachers, he said they had compromised with the quality of education. “The Congress is making a lot of hue and cry about de-notification of schools, but the fact is that when they came to power they ordered closure of about 100 schools as compared to 40 by us and that too due to low enrolment,” he said. Dhiman said, “Though government has no direct check over private schools, efforts will be made to keep a check on their fee structure. What is most unfortunate is that children of all MLAs and other higher ups study in public schools so why should they rue high fees when they prefer such institutions over government schools.” Earlier, while participating in the debate, Congress legislators Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh, Gangu Ram Musafir, Kuldeep Pathania, Harshwardhan, Mukesh Agnihotri and others had accused the BJP regime of discriminating by ordering closure of schools opened during their rule. They expressed concern over vacancies and the opening of private universities without any strict regulation. In reply to the debate on another cut motion, Public Works Minister Gulab Singh Thakur said since roads were lifeline of the state, construction of roads was the top priority of the government. “The budgetary allocation for road construction has gone up from Rs 403 crore to Rs 530 crore while 3,327 km of road length has been constructed in two years along with 101 bridges,” he informed. Both cut motions were, however, defeated by voice vote as the dissatisfied Congress refused to take it back. |
|
Discussion on Entry tax Bill deferred
Shimla, March 31 Kaul Singh Thakur of the Congress said the copies of the Bill were provided to them late last night and as such they did not get sufficient time to go through it so as to sugget amendments. He said either it should be referred to the select committee of the House or it might be taken up tomorrow as there were several shortcomings in it. Dismissing Congress claims, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said the Congress had sufficient time as the government had provided copies of the Bill. “It is a step which is in the interest of the state and the traders in general as only seven items had been included so that those getting bulk supply into Himachal pay taxes on their entry into the state,” he remarked. Dhumal said similar Bills had already been passed by other assemblies, including Punjab and Rajasthan, and now it was a must for resource mobilisation. He added the common man would not be affectedly at all and the traders in the state would rather benefit by imposition of the entry tax. The Bill would now be discussed tomorrow as Speaker Tulsi Ram asked the Congress legislators to give in their suggestions for amendment by 4 pm today. |
|
Probe begins into suicide case
Shimla, March 31 The CID today took over the file case from the district police and constituted a team headed by DSP Ram Lal Bansal. A case has already been registered against IG (Law and Order) Pradeep Kumar, his wife and son, Siddharth, a judicial officer. “No time frame has been fixed for the investigation to be completed but the team has been asked to finish the task in the minimum possible time,” said O.C. Thakur, IG (CID), who has been asked to get the inquiry conducted into the case by the DGP. The police official, however, did not confirm whether the IG or his family members were questioned by the team. The family of the deceased today refused to talk to the investigating team when it went to Ritu’s house. “As long as the IG remains on his post how can we expect a fair probe from a DSP-rank officer, so we will meet the chief minister tomorrow and ask him to remove Pradeep Kumar first as it is only then that we can expect to get justice,” said Ritu’s maternal uncle. He added that they would also approach the high court and seek the intervention of the National and State Human Rights Commission as they did not have faith in police investigations since a senior IPS officer was linked to the case. Meanwhile, the Congress again tried to raise the issue in the assembly as HPCC chief Kaul Singh Thakur sought discussion on the incident through call attention motion, notice for which was given by him earlier to the Speaker. However, Speaker Tulsi Ram said the reply from the police department was still awaited, so discussion was not possible at this stage. |
|
Tea industry losing trade, taste
Palampur, March 31 Tea growers stated that because of crisis in the industry, the areas which were under tea till recently, was being replaced with housing colonies, hotels, tourist resorts, shops and other
religious places. Tea growers are finding it very difficult to maintain their plantations as there is no buyer for the produce. The prices of input and labour components have almost doubled in the past three years. However, prices of made tea in the national and international markets have come down by 30 to 50 per cent ever since the Centre signed the WTO agreement. Tea manufactured in India has failed to compete with tea made in African countries, Sri Lanka and China. In these countries, the production cost is much less than the tea produced in India. In the early years, tea industry flourished in the valley because of suitable agro-climatic conditions and availability of plenty of land for cultivation. The tea seed imported from China responded well in the valley’s prodozolic grey soil with PH of about 5.4. Perhaps very few people know that the Kangra tea was awarded gold medal at
an exhibition in London in 1886. |
|
5,000 govt staff trained for census
Kangra, March 31 Sandeep Kumar, ADM, Kangra, has said among the 5,000 employees 4,200 had been deployed as enumerators and 500 as supervisors. He said 78 master trainers were imparted training earlier, who in turn, were imparting training to enumerators. He said 15,429 enumerators would be deployed from different departments to undertake the exercise and 338 master trainers would provide training to accomplish the task. The ADM said enumeration and enlistment of households in the district would be carried in the first phase during April 7 to May 22 while in snow-bound areas of Multhan sub-tehsil of the district, the exercise would be undertaken between June 1 to July 15. |
|
Zila parishad chief fired at
Nalagarh, March 31 According to the FIR registered against the RTO and five men - Jatinder, Abu, Arun, Ranjeet and Kuldeep, Chawdhary was signaled to stop at a naka laid by the RTO. When he aligned from his vehicle (HP12B-0001) the men abused him and demanded to know his identity. He was fired at by Jitender and Ranjeet, but the bullet missed his leg. His driver, Satnam, was attacked with a sharp-edged weapon, while another companion Sohan Lal was roughed up by the men after being fired at. He was, however, not injured by the gunshot. The duo was then bashed and the mobile phone of Chawdhary was snatched. Baddi SP CK Pandit said they had registered a case under Sections 336, 356, 506, 34 and 307 of the IPC and Section 25 and 54 of the Arms Act against the RTO and the five men who were yet to be arrested as they had fled from the spot after the incident. He said it was not clear what the RTO was doing at this late hour and if he had to check some nefarious activity help should have been sought from the police. Chawdhary alleged that the RTO and the five men were in an inebriated state and since they had fled their medical examination could not be conducted. Later, nearly 150 supporters of Chawdhary blocked the Nalagarh-Ropar road till 6 am, this morning. They have given the police a day’s time to either arrest the culprits or face protest in the form of closure of the entire Solan district. Meanwhile, the RTO in a separate complaint alleged that Chawdhary had issued illegal passes to truck drivers dealing with him professionally so as to prevail upon the authorities to not to charge any taxes from them. Chawdhary was peeved when the RTO had impounded three such trucks last evening and when he failed to release them despite his initial request he and his companions fired at him. A separate case under Section 307 of the IPC had been registered against Chawdhary on the RTO’s complaint. The RTO had faxed a complaint to the SP while the police was yet to take into possession the arms used in the incident. |
|
Vice-chief of Tibetan Youth Cong dismissed
Dharamsala, March 31 The TYC has allegedly planned to hold protest before the UN building in New York on February 25 to mark the Uprising Day. The president of the TYC approved the plan and selected candidates of the TYC were to participate in the protest. Initially, the US Embassy gave visa to the TYC leaders who were to participate in the protest. However, later allegedly the ousted vice-president of the TYC informed US Embassy officials about the plan, which then cancelled visa of the TYC members and their plan to hold protest before the UN building was thwarted. After his ouster from the party, sources said Dhondup Dorjee had alleged that he leaked information as the move did not have approval of the Dalai Lama. The TYC is considered as a hard line organisation of the Tibetans living in-exile. They are in favour of independence from China instead of the middle way approach suggested by the Dalai Lama. The Chinese generally term the TYC as a terrorist organisation, though its members have not indulged in acts of violence after fleeing to India. Certain members of the TYC alleged that communications of Dhondup Dorjee on the Internet could be used by China to associate the Dalai Lama with the TYC as a maligning campaign against the exiled leader. The sources said in some cases members of various Tibetan organisations have fled when sent abroad for holding protests. This caused embarrassment to the organisations involved. Supporters of the ousted leader also alleged that the certain members who were selected for protest in the US have seldom participated in protests organised in India. |
|
Property worth Rs 30 lakh gutted
Kangra, March 31 Fireman PC Dogra said here today that two shops were gutted in a fire accident yesterday on the Baldhar road in Nagrota Bagwan and property worth Rs 30 lakh was destroyed. He said the cause of the fire was not immediately known, however, investigation was in progress. He said the fire destroyed a chemist and a grocery shop and a store adjacent to these shops. The shops belonged to Umesh Kumar. The police suspected that the fire broke out due to a short circuit in the shop in the dead of night. The watchman detected fire but before it could have been extinguished the two shops and store were gutted. Fire brigade sources claimed that property worth Rs 10 lakh was saved from being destroyed. In another incident, a fire was controlled by people in Ambari village this morning, when a leaking gas cylinder caught fire at the residence of
Mehar Singh. The villagers extinguished the fire before the fire brigade reached the spot, fire brigade sources said. In another incident, a cowshed was destroyed
at Amb-Doli village falling under the Jawalamukhi police station and cause of the fire was still not known. |
|
Three die in separate incidents
Bilaspur, March 31 In another incident, a labourer, identified as Pyare Lal of Bajhadi, Chandigarh, died when a heavy iron chest fell on him while he was travelling on a truck with two other labourers. The truck was carrying a consignment of bank chests from Chandigarh to Mandi and the accident occurred near Suharghat when the truck was negotiating a sharp curve and the chest fell on him on the National Highway No. 21, about 40 km from here, last evening. In another incident, a Nepali youth, Rajan, who was employed at Ghumarwin, near here, died at the regional hospital here after he consumed some poisonous substance and was rushed here yesterday. Meanwhile, Narpat Ram, a driver of Chambi village in Soldha gram panchayat, near here, was intercepted by three-four miscreants on the Jabbal bridge, near here, last night when he was driving his coal-loaded truck to Barmana. The miscreants stopped his truck and after beating him up took away entire cash he was carrying. They later fled from the scene as the driver raised an alarm. The miscreants were not identified. The police has registered cases in all these incidents and is investigating into the matter. |
|
National vision document for sea buckthorn cultivation
Dharamsala, March 31 The Vice-Chancellor of the university Tej Pratap while talking to The Tribune said the university was going to make Rs 5000 crore plan for the Himalayan eco-development through cultivation of sea buckthorn that would be sent to the planning commission for approval. Virendra Singh, Professor and expert of sea buckthorn has been given the task of preparing the document. He said cold desert in the country spread in 75000 sq km across Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh was facing glacier melting and siltation of rivers. The solution to the problem lay in massive plantation of sea buckthorn in cold desert areas. China has carried out plantation of sea buckthorn in 30 lakh hectares of high altitude areas ranging between 2500 metres and 3000 metres above the sea level. In the past two decades 400 sea buckthorn-based industries have come up in China that are producing over 200 health products. The VC said they were proposing an investment of Rs 5000 crore over the next 10 years for air seeding, artificial afforestation and usage of sea buckthorn in integrated rural development of bordering states under a nodal agency. They were also proposing harnessing of plant potential for health protection by involving various agencies as DRDO, the Indian Council for Agriculture Research and other related bodies. The vision document being prepared by the university would be discussed with a team of experts from the DRDO on April 22 this year. After incorporating suggestions, it would be finalised by Dr RC Sawhney, sea buckthorn expert, in DRDO and sent to planning commission for approval.
|
|
No check on sale of sub-standard drugs
Palampur, March 31 A senior official of the Health Department admitted that over 100 brands of sub-standard drugs were being sold in different parts of the district. Even some samples collected by the Health Department from various chemist shops, which were tested at a government laboratory, failed. According to information collected by The Tribune, the business of sub-standard drugs had been flourishing in the district at the behest of medical officers posted at various government hospitals and most of the sub-standard drugs were being sold on the prescription of medical officers, who patronise particular pharmaceutical company and chemist shops in the district. The patients are specifically directed by doctors to buy medicines from these shops as they receive commission from these companies every month. Record of various hospitals revealed that doctors were repeatedly prescribing particular brand of medicines to patients. Indoor record of the hospitals also established that doctors were writing particular drug to the patients. All these facts were already in the notice of senior officials of the Health Department, but nothing was done to improve the situation. It is on record that the sale of standard drugs has come down in the district. A leading chemist and wholesale dealer of medicines disclosed that though standard company medicines were cheaper in the market, doctors were not prescribing these medicines as they do not get commission or other incentives from these companies. He said the margin of profit on sub-standard medicines was ranging between 200 to 300 per cent and major portion of it goes to doctors.
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Dharamsala, March 31
